During my 14 years in the education system I experienced some incredible teachers who bent over backwards to make things work for me and others who, well didn't...! This week has been National Thank a Teacher Day and I thought it would be a chance to thank some of my teachers by sharing some of the thing they did to support my educational journey!
I wanted to do a post that was aimed towards those involved in education (teachers and the incredible support staff). I want to share some of the things I experienced at school that were really helpful and things that you could do to make your classroom a more manageable and even enjoyable experience for children and young people with autism and some of the things you should avoid!!!
As always every individual is different and there for making adjustments won't look the same for everyone but these are just some of my experiences. I am also aware that schools and the staff within them are under huge amounts of pressure and governance and that sometimes your hands are tied as to what you can do to meet the needs of each student.
I hope that this could also be useful for parents to read to the be able to make suggestions to the school to make reasonable adjustments for your child.
I want to work though some key parts of the school day. I will try and apply it to both secondary and primary school but I am aware some aspects are very different so may only apply to one or the other.
• Timetables help so much. This is something that naturally happens in secondary school making the day predictable but something I really appreciated in primary school. Many classrooms have visual timetables which can be so beneficial in information processing. It can be helpful to also try and keep similar timings each week for example literacy is always before playtime apart from on a Thursday when it is after lunch. When it gets to secondary school one thing I found really helpful with timetabling was to have access to my timetable early. In the school I went to most pupils were given their timetable on the first day back in September, this caused me a lot of anxiety. It was really helpful for me to be able to have access to this as soon as it was available (either at the end of the summer term or emailed over the summer holidays).
• Play/ Break/ Lunch time was something I found very stressful in both primary and secondary school. I didn’t like the unstructured time, it was often a lonely time as I didn’t have a group of friends to go to, it is loud. I found it really helpful to have oppertnities to be able to stay inside weather though being asked to do jobs or just being given a space to sit at a computer and watch something or do some crafty bits. Providing a space for autistic students to stay inside or just away from the business can mean that the lunchtime break is actually a break for us too.
• Exit cards were such a helpful thing for me in secondary school. I had a number of different ones and each provided me with a safety net. I had one card that simply allowed me to step out of a lesson at any point to have a quick breather or to go and hide in the support base for the rest of the lesson. This was a comfort blanket for me knowing that I wasn’t trapped and that I could leave at any point by simply showing this card, no other explanation was needed. I also had a card that I was able to use for lunchtime staff if I did decide I wanted to go outside but then it became too much and then wanted to go back inside if I became overwhelmed. This again allowed me to feel more incontrol. The idea of these cards was great and 90% of the time they worked really well but occasionally I was met by teachers who would say no which would send me into a complete state of panic knowing I was trapped. These systems are put in place for a reason and while they do have the potential to be abused for just getting out of doing things they are a really important thing and something that I would encourage every teacher to take seriously. If you have concerns about a card being over used take this up with the SENCo or personal tutor rather than with the individual in a moment of potential overload or meltdown!! The third card I had was one that allowed me to leave lessons a few minutes early to avoid the rush of the corridor and also to reduced the stress of being late to a lesson, simple but so so helpful. This could also be used in a primary school setting in a different way but of course adapted to keeping younger children safe. It could be that if the card was shown that the child is able to move to a quite corner of the classroom and look at a book or if a member of staff is available to take the child for to let off some steam in the playground. This is a great way to promote independence.
• Rest and Reprocessing time was something that was very beneficial to me in the early part of secondary school. I was put onto a reduced timetable allowing each last period of the day to be ‘down time’. This allowed me time to calm down and start to relax before then getting home. This meant when I got home I wasn’t so overwhelmed and stimulated that meltdowns had and ended up making evenings very stressful for me and my family! It may not be that a student needs or that you are able to facilitate dropping a whole lesson but maybe looking at ways of taking 10 minuets at the end of the day to allow the student to debrief with you. Talking about things that have been difficult or have gone well and allowing some time for self stimulation.
• Group Work was one of the worst phrases to me in both primary and secondary school. The worst was of doing this is to have it where students pick a partner or pick their group/ team. Often this leaves us isolated and standing out as the one with no friends that nobody wants to work with. Taking a bit of time to plan ahead and have groups/ pairs set out can massively reduce anxiety and aid social interaction encouraging us to work with others. It can be really helpful to identify either though observation or asking the individual if they have a few people they ‘like’ working with to avoid putting them in an uncomfortable position of working with strangers but if not pick wisely. As a teacher you have an idea of who students are who may be more able to take a more vulnerable student under their wind and take the lead with conversations etc. Having said this I really enjoy leading and in a group task when asked to take the lead I would feel I had the ability to speak but wouldn’t have necessarily put myself forward for this when at school.
• Seating Plans can also be an area of stress. Similarly to above think carefully. It can be really stressful for autistic students to have to self allocate a seating plan and liking order and structure will like seating plans to know which seat is theirs. There can be some flexibility in this for example in a primary school where tables may change for each lesson it may be that this is your seat for numeracy and this is your seat for science. Be aware of where you are seating students also. Think sensory overload. Look at your empty classroom is there a radiator that slightly hums, maybe not a great place to seat a child with hyper hearing. Is there a window that means that area gets hot in the afternoon sun, again sensory overload. It can help where possible particularly in secondary schools to have autistic students facing forward to aid concentration. Seating them near to the teacher or in a position that is easy and discrete for you or a TA to check in can also be beneficial. Thinking back to exit cards it may also help to think about exit routes from that seat. Will the student feel trapped or have to walk in front of everyone to leave?
• Classroom instructions can easily be misunderstood. Using clear direct commands, making it clear what you are expecting. When giving a list of instructions e.g. get your book out write the full date on the right hand side then the title in the middle of the top line underline both then begin silent reading while everyone else arrived. Think about how many steps there are here. When you are already in an environment where your brain is working at 101mph the panic sets in as to what if I miss out on one of the instructions. It can be helpful to write these instructions either on the board or on a bit of paper placed in the students seat. Also be clear when giving whole class ‘telling offs’. The words this doesn’t apply to all of you, you know who you are is very unhelpful. Be direct and have quiet word with the individual to reassure them that they are/ aren’t included in that. This is similar with whole class detentions. For an autistic literal thinker this can be really hard to understand that I had done nothing wrong and I am being punished. Personally I don’t think this is a helpful approach to classroom discipline but I am not a teacher so maybe there is some logic behind it but just be aware of the mixed messages you may be sending.
I am aware that this is quite a long post and I have only covered a few topics, I may do another one in the future but these to me feel like the really key aspects that for me were addressed well or not so well in school.
I was incredibly lucky to go to a secondary school with a SENCo and a team that worked alongside her who believed in me and supported me so amazingly. School is a tough environment for everyone but it is even more so for those with autism and I really encourage you to think what can you do to make your classroom/ teaching practice more autism friendly. The little details really do make a difference to both you and the student. If in doubt ask, ask the student, their parents, the SENCo, your collueges, there are always different ways of approaching things!
Thank you in advance for all the support you give to the amazing community I am part of!
Comments
Post a Comment